Why Estate Agents Need to Think like Content Marketers

The rise of online-only estate agents has only added to the already saturated property market.

Both local and national businesses compete to cut through the digital clutter and attract the attention of buyers, sellers and landlords alike.

Content is king in every industry, and it’s crucial that yours makes the right impression. Here’s a quick guide to why – and how – estate agents need to think like content marketers, in order to get ahead.

Establishing authority

It’s imperative that every piece of content your business publishes helps to establish your voice as authoritative. A recent survey by Feefo asked consumers which qualities they valued most from their estate agent. Local knowledge came out top with 42% of the vote. Publishing content that clearly demonstrates your understanding and capability within your market can take you far. It ca help in persuading customers to choose you over the competition.

There are many options when it comes to creating content that demonstrates in-depth knowledge of the property market.

Blog content – both timely and evergreen – is one of the most common ways to introduce your brand’s tone of voice as authority, but it doesn’t need to stop there.

Buyer’s guides offer a great deal of value to consumers and allow you the opportunity to provide a direct solution to a problem. Branded guides can give general, cross-agency advice to people looking to buy or sell property. They can also be more aligned to your agency specifically. The Commercial Property Buyers Guide from MoveHut covers everything, from finding the right commercial property to exchanging contracts and receiving the keys. The guide almost works as a stand-alone content hub and provides users with all of the information they need in one accessible place.

Building trust

Trust between agent and client forms the basis of any estate agency. Content can be used as a tool to break down the walls between agent and consumer. Let clients get to know the personalities of you and your team. Perhaps by creating content that looks behind the corporate branding.

Including short employee bios that outline your team’s individual expertise and experience can give consumers an idea of the people behind your brand. Gilson and Bailey do this particularly well, with a dedicated Team page that includes a brief description of each member of staff and their role within the business.

Growing brand awareness

Nowadays almost every property listed for sale is put online. Still, estate agents continue to rely heavily on word of mouth. Creating shareable content that’s of genuine use to your audience, is one way to use content marketing techniques to your advantage. It will also help you reach even more potential customers. Building your brand online will ensure you are the estate agency consumers recognise and remember when looking to buy or sell property in your area.

The best way to get your estate agency on the map is to create something that sets you apart from your competition. As many as 85% of buyers and sellers want to work with an estate agent who implements video into their content marketing. Think about ways of creating interactive, engaging content that presents something new, valuable and shareable. This could include virtual tours of properties you have listed, or even a peek inside the office and interviews and insight from key members of staff.

London estate agency Winkworth are a great company to look to for inspiration. They host an informative, branded video on their homepage. This gives users a glimpse at a more personal side of the brand, while answering common questions many clients may have.

Boosting your SEO

Of course, content marketing also brings with it a wealth of SEO benefits. If your website is rich in optimised content you stand a much better chance of ranking highly for related industry terms. This can benefit you both in local and national search. Focus on the terms that are most valuable to you.

Competitor analysis is key here, so start by looking at the estate agents already ranking well within your area. Analyse their content, looking at how it’s structured. Review their choice of keywords and amount of written content on each page. From there, you can begin to build a picture of how your own content can be improved in order to climb the search results pages.

If you’re an estate agent looking to incorporate property copywriting into your digital strategy, and would like to know how WooContent can help you, get in touch with the team today.